The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-09-08

lbrarles and great religious organ
Dc you scarab for learned He
brew, go to Jerusalem, that city Of
prophets and of antique learning.
The ancient Greek, before Athens
had reached her zenith of fame,
went to Alexandria where he could
have access TO the accumulated
of the world. Ambitious
Romans found in Athens the foun-
tain at which their literary tastes
could be satisfied, the food that ex-
banded their minds and produced
literary works that are as familiar
to the student OF to-day as they
were to the pupils who gathered
around Piiny and Seneca.
Coming down to later times, the
medieval scholars Esought SalGrno
and Pisa. The Gascon boy went
to Faris and CHANGER must put
himself in the light and be moved
by the magnetic influence of Lon
don life. The German must leave
his native Swabia and go to Leip-
sic and Gottenburg, while the schol
ars of our own time not only drink
in the Influences Of their own cities,
but they travel far north, cast,
south and west and gather from
all seats of learning, garnering the
good, leaving the useless.
Thus whenever we look at the
outcome of literature we find little
accomplished outside of great cen
tiers of wealth and population.
Think you how Sophocles could
have produced his immortal trag-
edies within his native Colonus, or
Petrarch have won the poets crown
outside the walls Of Rome? Shake
spear put himself near the Globe
Theatre and under the influence of
his lasting friend the "rare Ben"
before he ever produced Hamlet
King Lear or Macbeth, and Dir.
Johnson wrote no books before he
lived in Grub street.
Every Iaborer must have neces-
sary implements to carry on his
trade, be he brain laborer or mere
handicraftsman; and these must be
within easy reach. To follow the
pursuit of letters there must be the
incentive Of critical, sympathetic
minds; there must be libraries, pub
| fishing houses and booksellers and
visible consciousness of a literary
demand awaiting literary supply
Ali these are implements as neces-
sary to the author as the forge ant
anvil to the smith, as the chise
and marble to the sculptor, as tht
paint and brush to the painter
Yes, the author must have the tools
and he must feel the thrilling
hrobbing presence OF humanity
Cling to the city and live in
IFS light, my friend" wrote Cicero
80 Coelus, "for those who have
abilities Rome is the place"
1 Climate seeing to be another con
dition conducive to the development
Of a literary people. Greece, tina
Tor more than two thousand year.
| had stood preeminent for her litera-
lure, lies far to the south. Both he
heat and cold are mitigated by re.
freshing sea breezes from her east
south and west; and the account
hat come to US of her climate tel
so beautifully of how the orang
and cltron bloom and how tn
date grows ripe meath the sunny
! Skies" that the student feels tina
in that misty age and far ava.
and the gods did indeed dwell
among men and inspire them wit
thoughts that must burn on tn
pages of literature until time sbal
close its volumes for the final reck
oning, and thiticr he longs to 60 i
The sure faith OF being move'
by the same power. Also Rome i
renowned for her genial climate an
to-day travellers tell of the beauti
full blue sky, the balmy air and tn
rare tropical productions of Ital
in such inspiring terms that W
cometo think Horace, Virgil an
Ovid natural growths of such
!, cline. Then does not the climat
Of England justify such growth a
CHANGER, Milton, Spencer and BY
ron?
The pressure of the rigid hand O
want as well as cutting sorrows, toe
has extracted some of the rares
gems of literature. Pressed b
want, lacking the sympathy of II
appreciative family circle, and i
the black darkness of eyes upo
which the rays of the sun were IT
1ected as blank as when they dart
ed through empty space, John Mi
ton produced that grandest of al
epic poems, Paradise Lost"
Now, having seen some of tn
conditions necessary to the develop
ment of a literary people, let us Sc
how they apply to the south, whetl
er or not we can prove it to be tn
true home of literature. Has sh
The cities? In reply it is only nee
essary to point to Baltimore, Rich
mond, Charleston, New Orleans an
others that will readily sugges
t themselves to you. How about tn
libraries and institutions OF learr
ing2 Will you kindly pardon m
here while l make slight digres
sion in the way of explanation
The two states that have given ton
and character to the educated elias
Of the south have been Virglni
and South Carolina, These wer
the earliest settled, and their afte
prestige has been pre-eminent. Thei
drst classes of emigrants were th
very best kind of English an
, French, but they were largely draw
, from the nobility, and knew nott
ing of practical life. Thea SLAYER
was soon introduced, the evils {
which are printed on every foot c
p soil in the south. Still for q time
made a free and easy life, a life 5
adapted to human inclinations an
= it gave advantages for which I'll
= whole south suffers to-day. Sue
life necessarily hindered I'll
founding of colleges and semina
ries, it hindered religious societie
e it hindered charitable organizs
] tons, in short, IL hindered ever,
r thing that tends to make a natiC